Back in January the Palm Pre was first shown at CES 2009. Since it first debuted at the show, it has been among the most highly anticipated smartphones of the year. Over the weekend, the Palm Pre launched and both Sprint and Palm are hoping the device can save the ailing companies.

Reuters reports that the launch of the Pre saw some lines form at stores in larger cities as shoppers looked to get their hands on the new smartphone. As expected, the Pre launch was a drop in the bucket compared to the epic launch of the iPhone several years ago.

Reuters reports that while the lines of fans waiting to buy the Pre were shorter than seen for the iPhone, the customers will still anxious to get their hands on the new device.

Peter Lewis, a shopper in line for a Pre, told Reuters, "I wanted their iPhone killer. I've been anticipating this for a while."

Sprint is hoping that the Pre will prove popular enough that it will help stop the subscriber defections plaguing the company and help it win customers back form Verizon and AT&T. A Sprint spokesperson said that as of late Saturday Sprint had sold out of Pre's at a number of locations around the country and Sprint was working to try to restock the stores.

Palm's Executive Chairman Jon Rubinstein said, "It's always nice to see a bunch of people waiting for a product you worked on." He continued saying, "For us, the opportunity is not to take customers away from RIM or Apple." The opportunity here according to Rubinstein is to get Sprint customers to upgrade from basic handsets to the new Pre. An increasing percentage of most cellular providers revenue is coming from data plans, which smartphones are optimized for.

The limelight will shine on Palm for a scant few more hours before Apple's WWDC kicks off in California. Apple is widely expected to launch a new iPhone at the conference in the keynote set to kick off shortly. The first official Pre reviews for the Pre were favorable.

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